With ever-increasing exports, Nephin Tractors continue to gain traction among customers at home and abroad
THEY say there isn’t an ill wind that doesn’t blow some good, and so it has been for Nephin Tractors, a great success story that came out of the last recession.
Colm Moyles had been working in the construction industry, as had his brother Tom, when in 2008, that other expression we all became familiar with: “the bottom fell out of things”. Colm and Tom went back to the land and their farming roots and little by little started trading in a small way in tractors, discovering a demand for the plentiful stock of farm machinery in Ireland in such far flung places such as Vietnam, Malysia, Pakistan and Egypt, where customers wanted older models they were more familiar with and felt they could repair themselves.
After just four years, Nephin Tractors was formally established in 2012, taking its name from the benevolent mountain that overlooks them in Derryhillagh in Mayo.
The family run business (with the help of employee Peter from Poland) continues to export and import quality used tractors and an ever-expanding range of farm machinery. Cashels, Quickie, Rossmore, Fleming, Tolmet, McCauleys and Johnson are just some of the brands they now retail.
They’ve built up such a great reputation in both the import and export markets, but the export market has really taken off for them.
To fulfil orders for these markets they buy used tractors and plant directly from farmers and traders all over the country, offering customers the option of a hassle free sale and courier service, and in so doing they’ve given such a boost to the local economy.
Towards the end of 2022 and with the help of their Local Enterprise Office, Nephin Tractors launched a website. “Our online store has been a game changer for us” says Tom.
“In today’s world people’s lives have become very hectic and it doesn’t seem to leave a lot of time for people to shop in stores.
Being online gave the opportunity for people to shop in the comfort of their own home and we feel it’s giving us the opportunity to move forward with our customer base in these fast changing times.”
Proof of time-poor customers is the statistics they get for the most traffic on their website: in the evenings between 7pm and 10pm and at the weekends.
It’s an impressive website. There are hundreds of products to browse through from tractor parts, machinery parts, farm accessories, clothing and footwear ranges, kids toys – a world of products, with more being added weekly.
“The online store gave us the opportunity to partner with lots of new suppliers and it’s really helped us to grow, develop and learn the skills necessary for what was a new innovation project for us.”
It really does sound like ‘onwards and upwards’ for Nephin Tractors.
“Can I just say how grateful we are to all our loyal customers and suppliers that have supported us through the years” says Colm.
“We genuinely do look forward to continuing to work with all of you in the future and if I can mention our customers in Sligo; being our neighbouring county there’s a lot of back and forth between us”.
Nephin Tractors can be contacted by calling Colm on 0876806540 or Tom on 0872191942. They can also be emailed at nephintractors@ gmail.com.